August 30, 2014. Prompt Fall. Beyond late, but I got lost on the path of life. Well, that and I couldn't really think of anything beyond anime falling (you know, fancy upside down, dramatic, saved at the last minute by something usually magical). Even when I decided to just sit down and pound it out, I couldn't think of a anything that would quite work for the Joes since I'm not about to kill off a ninja or give them wings. Then I remembered... Set in Legendary AU
The very first thing he had done, once he got over the surprise of the entire thing, was test out his new wings. Admittedly, it took him a very long time to get over the surprise, something his uncles would have been most disappointed in if they had known, but it wasn't something even the weirdness that came with being a ninja could prepare him for. They didn't believe in things like Cupid. Yet he ended up bombarded with a dozen little, flying, high-pitched cherubs, all trying to tell him things all at once or squealing excitedly over his bow and arrows. He had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming and then check himself for needles, scratches, or anything else that could indicate he'd been drugged. He was caught between being annoyed and relieved to find out he wasn't.
He discovered pretty quickly that he would still need to buy airplane tickets or take the train to get around. He wasn't very fast nor did he seem to have a lot of stamina. They had reassured him that he could build up stamina if he used his wings often and that they were strong, but he'd never be faster than the average bird, because it made the human mind assume he was just a bird, and if he could fly faster it would ruin that illusion. They were rather insistent that humans could not know. He was insistent that he could train himself to be faster.
His test flights took him high into the mountains, where there was no one around. Some of the cherubs had followed him, some had flitted off to who knew where, bored with him and his tests he presumed. He played with the few lazy clouds, finding that flying through them was akin to dealing with fog, but that it was good camouflage. He found the cherubs loved flying with him, but they couldn't climb as high in the air as he could, and they couldn't save him if he fell.
He'd learned that after he'd gone up as high as he could and then flipped upside down and just let gravity do its work. When he got in range of them, they freaked out, zipping around him and screaming at him to open his wings. He obliged, snapping wings open when he was at tree top level, counting on the extra airspace of the gorge he was above to stop him from plowing in to trees or ground. It was marginally successful, although he managed to clip a few branches, losing a feather or two in the process. Feathers the cherubs tried to beat him with after he stopped for a break. To say they were not pleased was an understatement, although he found himself thinking they needed training. Feathers weren't really effective weapons if you didn't properly use them.